Who says we don’t see any excitement anymore on National Signing Day? Pahokee’s Nu’Keese Richardson definitely gave us all something to talk about after he left Florida at the altar and ran off into the sunset with Tennessee.

Before I add more to the story, click here to read what I wrote for today’s paper.

Don’t believe that Richardson’s switch was “last-minute.” This was a player that has been talking about enrolling early since former teammate Janoris Jenkins did it a year ago. When he didn’t enroll in classes in January it wasn’t because he wasn’t organized or academically challenged.

According to my sources, he was already starting to doubt his commitment to Florida back in December and wanted more time. So there was no rush to finish all the testing and classes he needed to enroll early.

He did try to keep the last weekend’s visit to Tennessee secret, but in an age where recruits sneeze and people write about it, keeping a visit quiet is pretty impossible. By keeping the visit quiet he was hoping to avoid the full-court press from Florida and all the calls from media and friends wanting to know what was going on.

Click here to read what's coming out of Tennessee about Urban Meyer's behavior the past few weeks.

Richardson spent most of the week with his phone turned off or didn’t answer any calls. He told me the past week has been “school, practice and home,” to avoid anyone bugging him about the decision.

Florida repeatedly called him throughout Signing Day, but Richardson refused to answer. One of the Pahokee assistants, however, finally sent Florida a text saying Richardson wasn’t going to pick Florida. His inner circle knew all day that he was going to pick Tennessee.

Richardson is taking a lot of heat about his change of heart, but is that really fair? We’re talking about a teenager that changed his mind. Would it have been better if he went to Florida and was unhappy. He’s the one that has to live with his decision.

He did say if he had to do it all over again he wouldn’t have committed so early and advises younger players to take their visits and really think about their options before picking a school.

You are pretending to know something you dont. It sounds cool to say you have "sources" but they are lying or misinformed, which means you are too. Richardson did attempt to enroll early. He did not intentionally fail to qualify.

Nan,
If you are as close to the situation as you'd like people to believe then you would know how much work Richardson had to do in the classroom his senior year to even attempt to enroll early. That goes beyond taking any tests, but completing online courses as well. He didn't "fail" to qualify, he just didn't get everything in order academically that he needed to in order to graduate early. Once he started to doubt his decision to go to Florida, he stopped hustling to get all of those classes completed.

Apparently you aren't familiar with the idea of "sources." You can look up all the writing I've done in my career and count the number of times I attributed something to "sources" on one hand. But there are times, like this one, where the people who tell you things could get in trouble if you mention their name and will never give you off the record stuff again. But I think deep down you know how that works or you would be man enough to post your little comments under your real name and explain where you are getting your information from.

But then again, it is probably more fun to attempt to trash a reputable writer by pretending you know something you don't.

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